View full sizeLori Tobias/The OregonianA group of people enjoys Nye Beach near Newport, in spite of cool, cloudy weather. Oregon's beaches have been much grayer than usual this summer.

NEWPORT – You may not be able to prove it as a scientific fact, but ask
anyone anywhere on the Oregon coast and they will tell you, this seems
like the coolest, grayest summer in memory. Ever.

Just ask the weatherman. He's way over in Portland and he's noticed.

"It's been really cool, cloudy and overcast pretty much all of July and
August," said Tyree Wilde , meteorologist with the National Weather
Service. "They were socked in with a really cool, cloudy June and really
socked in with this marine stratus layer this past month. They've seen
very little sun over there."

June was wetter than usual with the north coast seeing about 3.88 inches
of rain, about 1.3 inches above the norm. That made it tough for the
roses and berries, said Wilde. July and the start of August were not so
much wet as well, gray. Gray. Gray. Gray.

"We had 251 sightings in August last year, and only 10 this whole month
so far," said Dave Newton, park ranger at the Depoe Bay Whale Center.
The whales feed on the teeny shrimp that live at the base of kelp beds,
but with so little sun, the kelp can't grow. No kelp beds. No shrimp. No
whales.

What's going on? Simply and unscientifically put, the wind is blowing
the wrong way. In a typical summer, there is a fluctuation between
onshore and offshore winds. Onshore winds, those coming from the west,
bring cool, marine air from the ocean to the land. Offshore winds, those
coming from the east, bring dry, warm air from the valley to the coast.

This summer, we've had almost no offshore and an abundance of onshore winds.

"So you get that cool, cloudy marine air on land area," said Wilde. "And that is what we've had all summer."

Not everyone is complaining about the gray skies and the need to dress
like it's March, however. Area hotels are full, lines at the Yaquina
Head lighthouse are long and the Astoria Riverfront Trolley is packed –
with a record-setting 10,000 riding the rails last month, according to
Skip Hauke, executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of
Commerce.

"I think it's great," said John Krahnke , of Whiteville, N.C. "We've had
a string of 95 to 100-degree days for the last month at home. It was
just terrible. I am a runner and I couldn't run in Whiteville. I thought
I was losing my stamina. Then I came here and I can run at my normal
pace. It's great."

View full sizeLori Tobias/The OregonianJohn Krahnke of Whiteville, N.C., is perfectly happy with this summer's cool, gray weather along the Oregon coast. We've had a string of 95 to 100-degree days for the last month at home. It was just terrible."

It's great for wildlife viewing too, says Fran Mathews , co owner of
Marine Discovery Tours in Newport. Sure, she's had to do some talking to
would-be passengers who wonder just how comfortable they could possibly
be under such unfriendly skies.

That's when she explains that their boat can hold 49 people in a warm
heated cabin. And once they get out there, the splash of a whale's tail
or spray from its spout are in stark contrast against the gray sea and
sky. "We've had some of the best sightings we've had in the last couple
of years."

And like North Carolina's Krahnke, many of Mathews' passengers are just
happy to be out of the summer heat wave back home, wherever that might
be.

"It's been awful, for sure, but it's also offered great opportunity for
dialogue with people about the weather where they come from," said
Mathews. "They aren't having normal weather either. People seek the
coolness and the wetness because back home they are just fried out. You
ask them, 'How are you enjoying your day?' They say, 'This is
wonderful."

And by week's end, who knows, locals may be saying the same.

"I think we actually have a nice weekend coming up," said Wilde."It
looks like we are going to break out of this pattern. You might get a
good chance of a sunny weekend."